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Byron Shire
March 27, 2024

Beachside carparks closed in Tweed Shire

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Beachside carparks have been closed in Tweed Shire until  April 27. The decision was made at an extraordinary ‘virtual’ meeting of Tweed Shire Council last night.

‘We voted unanimously to close beachside carparks. However, the beaches remain open,’ Deputy Mayor, Chris Cherry told Echonetdaily.

‘Following the closure of the Gold Coast beaches there were so many Queensland number plates at places like Cabarita, Fingal and other good surfing spots people were becoming very concerned. We are trying to bring the message home that we really don’t want tourists at this time that we had to take drastic action. We are trying to make sure that people are taking the message seriously and staying home.’

The carparks will remain closed throughout the school holidays, however, Tweed Council will be reviewing the situation regularly.

‘We will review the decision after the Easter weekend to ensure that it is operating effectively and that it hasn’t had any unintended consequences,’ said Ms Cherry.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. Such a pity Byron Council doesn’t do this for ALL its beach access car parks, or didn’t do at least for Easter. There seems to be little concern about the unintended? but clearly foreseeable consequence of the closure of the large ones closing which has been a concentration (not good at all for social distancing) in the small ones in areas like Suffolk Park.

    Tweed Council Made this decision in a special meeting and live streamed it. Where is the transparency in Byron Shire around how these decisions are made and who’s supporting them?

  2. What is the point of being allowed to go to a beach but the carpark is closed? Not everyone is walking distance to a beach. This means cars will be clogging up local roadsides & residential streets.
    Make rules consistent.
    Like the border closure too…what is gained by closing the border in one direction but not the other? It means that NSW is prevented from potentially spreading coronavirus north into Qld but Queenslanders could bring it into NSW!

  3. This is exactly the kind of bureaucratic idiocy that will undo all the good work being done by right minded people .
    We have had excellent community response to this bungled government inaction.
    Now some petty bourjois group have decided ,in their ‘great wisdom’ to have the beaches open and the car-parks closed, risking the compliance of the sane with these schizophrenic regulations.
    I think it is time all governments ,federal ,state and local, got out of the way and let the people fix the mess that their incompetence has created.
    Cheers , G”)

  4. I take your points, Serena and Ken, but there is no perfect solution here. The locals may have given ‘an excellent community response’, but there is too much evidence that visitors are not.

    The local reactions I can discern are that, although the extra parking clogging the streets is undesirable, it is happening anyway as the numbers visiting, at times greatly outnumber the small number of car park places available. We would prefer them spread out. What closing the car parks might have a chance to achieve, in Byron Shire anyway, is the illegal overnight camping in small residential areas and hopefully free the car parks from being congregation sites through which those attempting to get to the beach must run the gauntlet.

    Having to park a little distance away is surely healthy exercise, the only purpose for which we are supposed to be visiting. It may deter those packing the car with chairs, umbrellas etc for a beach day out (which is not what we are supposed to be there for)

    Admittedly it’s tough when impositions occur because a few refuse to do the right thing, but perhaps if they make a visit to the beach too difficult, it is better to get your exercise closer to home, #ByronStayHome. Everyone is experiencing huge sacrifices and impositions, but the sooner we stop foot stamping and get on with it the sooner we might all be able to frolic, sunbake, and visit our friends and grandchildren!

  5. Bungled is too kind a word for the mess. It
    should have been for ‘all beaches.’ Talk
    about bureaucratic mindlessness…

  6. Many of the QLD plates are NSW residents who flout the rules for cheaper rego. I am very much looking forward to these individuals facing the same rates that the rest of us do.

  7. If we agree or disagree with the actions being put in place is irrelevant. The fact is they are in place to help prevent the spread of this virus.
    These rules could be a lot harsher, some will say they SHOULD be much harsher. Our beach’s could be closed completely. But they aren’t. We are still able to use them to surf, swim, walk or run under the exercise rule. But we need to do this sensibly.
    Maintain the social distancing which I see often being ignored. As usual, it is a minority of selfish, ignorant people who could force our council’s to impose much harsher restrictions.
    Do you really want to be told that you can not go to the beach at all ?

  8. @Phil That is the case once you reach a certain age but not for younger drivers. QLD rego does not require a greenslip therefore vehicle maintenance is not carried out annually saving money there. Not to mention the safety issues that causes.

  9. Well if streets are being clogged with cars, do the
    Right thing and bloody report them to police. Surely you know what cars belong in your street . Strange ones get tagged. Simple. The government is saying at home, surely it applies to everyone

  10. As far as I concern it’s so sad med is in such be wood stage at present in times of salt water and sun in need.
    People are traveling long dystance to go 1500 feet under ground to inhale solty air.
    I’m 1000% sure the pisybility of getting cov 19 is much higher staying home and getting from touching plastic from shoping door hendel etc against swimming in salty water washing body off inhailing air healthy for your Lungs.
    WHAY Council arrange one way walk along beach aliwing person to excess evry 15 seconds with exit from beach 1 km or 2 km 3 km so people can choose the dystans to walk than walk back by concrete walk way which is actually full of dust and sit. Just org some order and you have all nation happy.

  11. The virus is here till a vaccine is approved, thus any closure of anything is a waste of time because Government funding cannot Outlast the time lag involved. The economy will re commence because people need to survive.

  12. Eggbert is spot on. The simple reason that so many people from Northern NSW buy older Queensland plated cars is you don’t have to get a pink slip every year that saves a lot of $$$ in repairs and maintenance once rego comes around. A friend has a boat trailer he uses in NSW but gets a family member to register in Qld every year as the cost is about half, and again no rego check on the rustbucket trailer that would not get approved in NSW. Worst thing is all this rego money is simply going straight over the Qld border to fix and build their roads. Suspect all this talk will see a big hit on this practice as police now targeting Qld plates and people will be forced to reregister and loose months of Qld rego they thought they might get away with.

  13. Went to Lettitia Road in Fingal as usual to find a ‘locals only’ sign on a water barrier blocking the road. I have been going here almost daily to exercise for the last five years under doctors orders. I drove around the barrier believing myself to be local from Tweed Heads. The sign would have said ‘residents only’ otherwise. I was stunned to find a squad car with 2 police officers wasting half a day shooing cars out of lettitia road. The officer said ‘do you always drive around ‘locals only’ barriers? I pointed out that Duranbah is closed off along with Queensland. This was the closest beach to Tweed Heads, hence I am local. It is my local beach. He thought about it and agreed but asked me to leave regardless. Apparently 7 complaints from Fingal residents triggered their putting a police car down there. As a result, I normally would drive from my house (quarantined for over a month for safety) straight to the beach, only 2 couples pass me on the beach on almost any day and I return with zero close contact. I now park outside someones house in Fingal township, no doubt annoying them, walk past kids, lifesavers etc with about 25 people coming close along with the contact with the police. We are now condensed into a much tighter area.
    My solution would be to open all carparks and have the rangers coax people to keep a safe distance if required. There are 3 to 4 of them and police, multiple council employees, crane trucks etc all at great expense wasting a lot of effort for something that doesn’t really work.

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